Have voters, politicos, analysts, and the media focused before with such intensity on a presidential race in the US more than a year before the actual vote? Perhaps. But I’m willing to say: Probably not. The reasons why this race is so magnetic are overt. Trump and Trumpism are in the air. Democracy is on the table. Pivotal policy issues are in play: reproductive rights, immigration, jobs and the economy, health care, public health and public safety, education, national security, the rule of law, and the funding and future shape of the federal government. Social media chews on all of this 24-7. Information – and disinformation – is ubiquitous. Partisanship is at a boiling point and Democrats and Republicans are maneuvering for position. Peggy Collins is the Washington bureau chief of Bloomberg News and a veteran national and local news reporter. 

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Ever since Vladimir Putin sent Russian tanks rolling into Ukraine in early 2022, assumptions about the possibility of war in the 21st Century have been turned on their heads. A long absence of conflict in Europe gave way to a bloody and sustained ground war. Russia has even warned it might unleash nuclear missiles. China, rattling its own saber in Asia, looms large in the background – just as it did in the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. Nukes are the new normal. Hal Brands is a foreign policy professor at Johns Hopkins University, co-author of "Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China," a member of the State Department's Foreign Affairs Policy Board, and a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. 

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Silicon Valley is the centerpiece of a very specific kind of bro culture – a culture that has had a certain winner-take-all mojo over the years, but which may be running its course. To test this thesis, I present you with Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, founders of such landmark companies as Tesla, SpaceX, and Meta (aka Facebook). They are both innovators, admirable risk-takers, and bazillionaires. They’ve also struggled to evolve; to have early, vaunted reputations as wise men correspond with equally wise management and wise decisions as the world around them changed. Kara Swisher is the host of the “On With Kara Swisher” and “Pivot” podcasts, and an editor-at-large at New York magazine. 

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Weather is fickle and climate-related catastrophes have become all too common – in the US and around the globe. Deadly, rain-induced flooding, interspersed with deadly, heat-induced fires have also visited the Koreas, Ethiopia, Australia, Pakistan, India, Brazil, the UK, Canada, Greece, and other countries during this still new 21st century. We now live in a climate-changed world in which every season or region is host to the hottest, the driest, the coldest or the wettest moment of the modern human era. We are the authors of the disasters and victims of the consequences. Mother Nature has had enough. Mark Gongloff is a columnist with Bloomberg Opinion who specializes in covering the environment and climate change. 

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Any time Tim O’Brien sees a Republican presidential candidate (other than Donald Trump) on television, he’s reminded that they and their party look like they’re in a hostage video. They are all trapped by Trump, and none of them have convinced Tim that they can escape. Trump's Republican challengers held their first national debate recently, offering an array of pols trying to make a case for themselves and the GOP’s future. Meanwhile, Trump counter-programmed, sitting down with former Fox News propagandist and conspiracy theorist Tucker Carlson. Susan Del Percio is a Republican political strategist and an adviser to a variety of political and corporate campaigns. 

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“Barbie,” the summer blockbuster about the world’s most famous doll, has a lot to say about the intersection of art, commerce, gender, identity, and a life well lived. But one reason it has raked in more than $1 billion in global box office sales is because it offers a provocative and funny send-up of mind-numbing, soul-crushing corporate conformity. Barbie is totemic and has had the power to brainwash, inspire, derail, and draw in the girls who have played with her for decades. The movie explores all of that, largely unflinchingly, even if it does pull a few of its punches. Mattel may be having the last laugh: It’s raking in handsome piles of cash from all of this – at movie theaters, in sales of related merch, and in its newfound role as the purveyor of franchise toys that can be made into boffo, franchise films. Emma Gray is a columnist with MSNBC, co-hosts the podcast, “Love to See It,” and is the author of “A Girl’s Guide to Joining the Resistance.” 

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The U.S. is now in the unprecedented position of having a man who has thus far been charged with 78 crimes being the clear front-runner for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in 2024. There is a swamp of issues to unravel around all of this – including Trump’s legal perils, the character and policies of a Republican Party he owns, and the future of American democracy. Joining us today to make sense of all of this is Charlie Sykes. Charlie, a committed and confounded Republican, is the editor of the commentary site, The Bulwark, and host of the Bulwark Podcast. He’s also a political analyst for MSNBC and the author of several books, including “How the Right Lost Its Mind.”

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Kenya is home to some of the planet’s most glorious – and most threatened – wildlife. Like everything else on Earth, the animals that once thrived in this Eden are suffering through the cataclysm of climate change. Long droughts interspersed with violent and irregular flooding have altered migration patterns and essential sustenance. Local farmers and semi-nomadic herders are struggling to preserve their livelihoods. East Africa’s droughts, the worst in at least 40 years, have already brought waves of famine. And the clock is ticking as increasingly formidable environmental challenges bear down. Spiking temperatures mean that much of what has made Kenya, Kenya, may eventually disappear. To explore all of this, Tim spoke with guides at two of Kenya’s conservancies: Tom Njogu, the head guide at the Lewa Safari Camp; and Dickson Kereto, a veteran guide at the Mara Naboisho Conservancy. 

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Americans bet about $165 billion a year, but here’s something Tim O’Brien worries about: When there’s billions of dollars on the line, how likely is it that your favorite sport is going to get corrupted? Gamblers and criminals have been trying to rig games since the Olympics first began – it still goes on all the time if you look for it. Enter SportRadar, where former intelligence operatives, police detectives, journalists, and computer geeks track 500,000 sporting matches around the world every year, on the hunt for potential fixes.

We first published this episode around the Super Bowl as part of a three-part series about the past, present, and future of the multi-billion-dollar sports betting boom, and its impact on games, fans, and society. You can also listen to the other two episodes in the series: about the rise of mobile betting and the future of tribal casinos. 

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Wall Street can be a minefield for any competitive or ambitious person seeking a rewarding career, a name for themselves, and handsome paydays. They quickly find themselves surrounded by other competitive and ambitious people looking for exactly the same things. For women, the challenges can run even deeper and for them, the world of Wall Street is particularly fraught. What’s it like to fight through those challenges, especially when your own dreams collide with hurdles – that is, when they collide with men? Elizabeth Rossiello is the CEO of AZA Finance, a fintech and forex company based in Nairobi and London, and her path has taken her through Wall Street, crypto, fintech and Africa. 

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